EFCore.Scaffolding

An MSBuild task that generates Entity Framework Core models from your database during build time. This package scaffolds your database schema and generates clean, organized C# code with proper namespacing and nullable reference types support.

Installation

<PackageReference Include="AlonSoft.EFCore.Scaffolding" Version="1.0.0">
  <PrivateAssets>all</PrivateAssets>
  <IncludeAssets>runtime; build; native; contentfiles; analyzers; buildtransitive</IncludeAssets>
</PackageReference>

Quick Start

Add a scaffold target to your .csproj file:

<Target Name="ScaffoldEntities" BeforeTargets="CoreCompile" Condition="'$(MY_APP_CONNSTR)' != ''">
    <ScaffoldTask ConnectionString="$(MY_APP_CONNSTR)"
                  OutDir="Entities\Generated"
                  OutFile="Models" />
</Target>

Set your connection string and build:

# Set environment variable (Windows)
$env:MY_APP_CONNSTR = "Server=localhost;Database=MyDatabase;Trusted_Connection=true;"

# Build project
dotnet build

Usage Modes

Type-Per-File Mode (Default)

Generates separate files for each entity (when OutFile is not specified):

<ScaffoldTask ConnectionString="$(ConnectionString)"
              OutDir="Entities\Generated" />

Output: Individual .g.cs files:

• Entities\Generated\EntityContext.g.cs - DbContext
• Entities\Generated\User.g.cs - User entity
• Entities\Generated\Product.g.cs - Product entity
• etc.

Single File Mode

Creates one consolidated file with all entities:

<ScaffoldTask ConnectionString="$(ConnectionString)"
              OutDir="Entities\Generated"
              OutFile="Models" />

Output: Entities\Generated\Models.g.cs

• Contains your DbContext class
• All entity classes
• Sorted using statements
• Proper namespace organization

Parameters Reference

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
ConnectionString	string	✅	-	Database connection string
Provider	string	❌	SqlServer	Database provider: SqlServer, Sqlite, PostgreSql, MySql, Oracle
OutDir	string	❌	Entities\Generated	Output directory (relative to project)
OutFile	string	❌	-	Output filename (omit for type-per-file mode)
ContextName	string	❌	EntityContext	Name of the generated DbContext class
TypeNamePattern	string	❌	{Name}	Pattern for entity names. Use {Name} placeholder (e.g., {Name}Entity)
UseNullableReferenceTypes	bool	❌	true	Enable nullable reference types in generated code
UseDataAnnotations	bool	❌	true	Use data annotations instead of fluent API
Language	string	❌	C#	Code generation language
ProjectDirectory	string	❌	auto-detected	Project directory path
RootNamespace	string	❌	auto-detected	Root namespace for generated code
RawNamespace	string	❌	-	Override namespace completely

Advanced Configuration

Database Providers

Specify the database provider with the Provider parameter:

<!-- SQL Server (default) -->
<ScaffoldTask ConnectionString="$(ConnectionString)" />

<!-- PostgreSQL -->
<ScaffoldTask ConnectionString="Host=localhost;Database=mydb;Username=user;Password=pass"
              Provider="PostgreSql" />

<!-- MySQL / MariaDB -->
<ScaffoldTask ConnectionString="Server=localhost;Database=mydb;User=user;Password=pass"
              Provider="MySql" />

<!-- SQLite -->
<ScaffoldTask ConnectionString="Data Source=mydb.db"
              Provider="Sqlite" />

<!-- Oracle -->
<ScaffoldTask ConnectionString="Data Source=//localhost/ORCL;User Id=user;Password=pass"
              Provider="Oracle" />

Supported provider aliases:

Provider	Aliases
SQL Server	SqlServer (default)
PostgreSQL	PostgreSql, Postgres, Npgsql
MySQL	MySql, MariaDb
SQLite	Sqlite
Oracle	Oracle

Entity Naming Pattern

Customize generated entity class names with TypeNamePattern:

<!-- Add "Entity" suffix: Customer → CustomerEntity -->
<ScaffoldTask ConnectionString="$(ConnectionString)"
              TypeNamePattern="{Name}Entity" />

<!-- Add "Dto" suffix: Customer → CustomerDto -->
<ScaffoldTask ConnectionString="$(ConnectionString)"
              TypeNamePattern="{Name}Dto" />

<!-- Add prefix: Customer → TblCustomer -->
<ScaffoldTask ConnectionString="$(ConnectionString)"
              TypeNamePattern="Tbl{Name}" />

The pattern must contain exactly one {Name} placeholder.

Custom Namespace

<ScaffoldTask ConnectionString="$(ConnectionString)"
              RootNamespace="MyApp.Data"
              OutDir="Models" />

Skip Scaffolding Conditionally

<PropertyGroup>
    <SkipScaffolding Condition="'$(Configuration)' == 'Debug'">true</SkipScaffolding>
</PropertyGroup>

Environment-Specific Connection Strings

<Target Name="ScaffoldEntities" BeforeTargets="CoreCompile" 
        Condition="'$(ConnectionString)' != '' AND '$(SkipScaffolding)' != 'true'">
    <ScaffoldTask ConnectionString="$(ConnectionString)" />
</Target>

<PropertyGroup Condition="'$(Environment)' == 'Development'">
    <ConnectionString>Server=localhost;Database=MyDevDB;Trusted_Connection=true;</ConnectionString>
</PropertyGroup>

<PropertyGroup Condition="'$(Environment)' == 'Testing'">
    <ConnectionString>Server=testserver;Database=MyTestDB;Trusted_Connection=true;</ConnectionString>
</PropertyGroup>

Generated Code Features

• Nullable Reference Types: Full support with #nullable enable
• Namespace Management: Automatic namespace sanitization and organization
• File Header: Auto-generated headers with nullable context
• Clean Output: Removes previous generated files before creating new ones
• Using Statement Optimization: Consolidates and sorts using statements in single-file mode
• Path Safety: Validates output paths are within project boundaries

Troubleshooting

Common Issues

Build Errors:

• Ensure .NET 9.0 SDK is installed
• Clear NuGet caches: dotnet nuget locals all --clear
• Check connection string format

Path Issues:

• OutDir must be relative to project root
• Cannot use paths outside project directory
• Use forward slashes or escaped backslashes in MSBuild

Database Connection:

• Verify connection string is correct
• Ensure database server is accessible
• Check SQL Server authentication mode

Error Messages

• "OutDir must be relative to the project": Use relative paths only
• "Cannot determine the project directory": Pass ProjectDirectory="$(MSBuildProjectDirectory)"
• "OutDir cannot be the project root": Choose a subfolder for output

Requirements

• .NET 8.0+ SDK (task runs on .NET 9.0 runtime, but your project can target .NET 8.0+)
• Entity Framework Core 9.0+
• MSBuild 17.0+
• Supported databases: SQL Server, PostgreSQL, MySQL/MariaDB, SQLite, Oracle

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License.